"I have not retired," Wallace said in a phone interview Friday with the Des Moines Register. "I have just removed myself from the San Francisco situation because it wasn't a perfect fit for me."

Harbaugh and general manager Trent Baalke said Wallace told them he was ending his comeback attempt when he decided not to accompany the team to San Diego for the 49ers' exhibition finale Thursday.

"Yeah, that was a surprise," Harbaugh said after the 49ers' 41-6 victory over the Chargers. "It was his decision. He felt strongly about it, and I don't talk guys out of it. I've never seen it done on game day, but I wish him well."

Wallace, though, said he asked for and was granted his release from the 49ers, who signed him last week after he was released from the New Orleans Saints. Wallace accused the 49ers of using his signing as leverage to get backup quarterback Colt McCoy to restructure his contract. McCoy had his base salary slashed from $1.5 million to the league minimum of $630,000 last week.

"I've been around this game long enough where I can see what's going on," Wallace told the Register, "and I realized right away the reason they brought me here was to get Colt to take a pay cut."

Wallace, a former Iowa State star, thought the 49ers never intended to give him a legitimate chance. After meeting with Harbaugh, Wallace said he didn't think he could make the team.

Advertisement

"San Francisco wasn't the best place for me," Wallace said. "I have no hard feelings toward San Francisco. It's just the nature of the business."

Harbaugh's quotes took Wallace by surprise, however.

"For him to come out and say that, 'Hey, Seneca's planning on his retirement' ... I don't think that's even 100 percent fair for him to come out and say that because I don't even know him," Wallace, 33, said. "I think that should be my decision.

"I still have the desire and I still want to play," said Wallace, who was out of the NFL last year.